Friday, 13 July 2012

On-off standing desk - a Lack desk add-on

Description:There's the standing desk craze but hey, you may not be convinced that it's all that great working standing up. Colin's hack may help you test it out quickly and cheaply (just over $20) before you commit to a more elaborate one.

1. Assemble a Lack side table as per instructions. 2. Then place the Lack side table on top of your existing desk and your computer monitor on top of the Lack side table. Adjust the height accordingly. Use a textbook to prop it up to ensure that you are viewing your monitor at optimum eye level. (Your eyes should look naturally into the top 1/3 of the screen). 3. Then the shelf for your keyboard. Measure the right distance from the base of the leg of the Lack table to or slightly below elbow height. 4. Screw the brackets into the legs and place or screw the shelf on top.

Standing/Sitting Desk-top Hack

Materials: 6" (15cm)Capita Legs, brackets, small tabletop, small shelfDescription: I wanted to have an inexpensive 'standing desk' without having to commit to using it 100% of the time. This combination just sits on top of an old standard 30" table which I will call the 'desk', without being attached. It allows me to have the keyboard and monitors at the correct height when I'm either standing or sitting.

The second most important thing is that it is SO easy (and takes just a few seconds) to adjust from sitting to standing... otherwise I would sit all the time (because usually I can only stand for a few hours).

To move it to a standing desk, I just put the laptop and monitor on the higher shelf (I prop the laptop up a bit), and move the wireless keyboard and mouse up to the small tabletop (on legs). At this point I pull the tabletop toward me. My power cords (and cords to external hard drives etc) are bundled together in the back, but I leave enough 'give' to move the laptop and monitor up and down the 9"/22cm to the higher shelf.

To move it back, I just do the reverse: move the laptop and monitor down to the small tabletop, and the keyboard and mouse down to the desk, and I push the tabletop away from me.

The small tabletop is a good height for stowing files, my scanner etc underneath.

It's also possible to remove the whole thing when I want to use the space for sewing projects, but because of the bundled cords, that's a bit more complicated.

As a bonus, it was very fast to assemble as well. We attached the Capita legs to the bottom of the tabletop, and the brackets to the underside of the white wood shelf. Then we clamped the brackets onto the tabletop.

Lastly, I must say I'm sorry I didn't record the names of the shelves, brackets etc. The white tabletop (Lack?) is approx 59x100cm. The small shelf is approx 19x79cm, and it is made out of solid wood. It was displayed next to the brackets when I saw them, in the desk/office area. An Ikea employee would be able to identify all the parts easily from the photo I think.

~ Daphne, Ottawa, Ontario

Lack double deck standing desk

Materials: 2 Lack tables, 1 Slugger, 4x Ekby Stodis

Description: I wanted to build a cheap and functional standing desk for my room.